This has been a fairly popular topic here and I'm sure some of the regulars will weigh in with their favorite advice. Meanwhile, here's 15 pages worth of previous forum posts; bound to be at least a few threads of interest. Have fun!
https://www.chess.com/forum/search?keyword=openings+for+beginners
Get a decent book on openings for beginners. Don't try to memorize move by move, rather understand why certain moves are being made/suggested. Try to understand the principles being explained. Good luck. 
Understanding an opening. It's like playing a game of tug of war. Tug of war....grip the center, PULL!!! Chess, control the center, PULL!!! Of course, you "pull" in chess by making the best move possible. Grandmasters agree, you perfect your opening, you know it well, you win more often. You learn your opening deeper in the game, your opponent has to think, you don't...you know it!
Probably the best book on opening principles is actually "Reassess Your Chess" by Jeremy Silman. It's for middle game play, but it goes a lot toward anybody understand the underlying reasons for opening moves. That being said, your not going to learn openings without cracking open a book (Or computer course, dvd, etc), on the subject of openings, preferably a single opening per course.
Although one should be somewhat familiar with a variety of openings and defenses, one should strive to build a mental library of a few openings and defenses that you want to specialize in.
I’ve played chess for decades. I’m a beginner skill player and years ago when keeping an online rating I was around 1200.
The reason I open in chess is to get my pieces out to attack and 90%+ of the time when I’m white, I begin e2-e4.
but I never dove into understanding the opening game. Why I’m doing what I’m doing. What my goals should be. And I’m hopeful this could be at least partly explained to me here and maybe some books or YouTube videos or other aids could be used in my education.